| Title: | POSSIBLE NUCLEAR TRANSMUTATION OF NITROGEN IN THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE |
| DOI No: | 10.1142/9789812774354_0045 |
| Source: | CONDENSED MATTER NUCLEAR SCIENCE (pp 546-553)
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| Author(s): | MIKIO FUKUHARA
Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Japan
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| Abstract: | An attempt to give a possible answer to a question why nitrogen exists so abundantly in Earth’s atmosphere and how it was formed in Archean era (3.8–2.5 billion years ago) is presented. The nitrogen is postulated to be the result of an endothermic nuclear transmutation of carbon and oxygen nuclei confined in carbonate MgCO3 lattice of the mantle with an enhanced rate by attraction effect of catalysis of neutral pions, produced by electron emission: 12C + 16O − 2π0 → 2 14N. The excited electrons were generated by rapid fracture or sliding of carbonate crystals due to volcanic earthquake, and many of the neutrinos were derived from stars, mainly the young sun. The formation of nitrogen would continued for 1.3 billion years from 2.5 to 3.8 billion years in Archean era, until the active volcanism or storm of neutrinos ceased. The transformation is possible by the combined effects of the screening attraction of free electrons and thermal activation in deeper mantle. The possible nuclear transmutation rate of nitrogen atoms could be calculated as 2.3 × 106 atom/s. |
| Keywords: | Nuclear transmutation of nitrogen; Atmosphere of Earth; Carbonate in mantle; Neutral pion-catalysis; Neutrinos from young sun
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